


Of Starlight

by boltlightning



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Origins, Pre-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-09 20:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3263861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boltlightning/pseuds/boltlightning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A girl, her stars, and two others that live on her mountain. Under the close guidance of a master, they learn to fight in the light.</p><p>Pre-BbS. An explanation of sorts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. beginning

“The first thing you are to learn,” he says, as he slides a cup of hot milk in front of her, “is that you are safe here. Like all worlds, this world has its own dangers - there are creatures in the forests and buried in their caves, and there are towers from which you can fall and lakes in which you can drown.”

The mentor pauses. His eyes are alert, but he is looking off into the distance. The dim lamplight reflects off the dark gray of his eyes. Awkwardly, Aqua takes the mug he’s place before her and warms her hands on the heated porcelain.

“But you are safe here,” he assures her, looking at her sideways. “The light will always keep you safe from whatever demons may cross your path. It is within your heart, this castle, anywhere. You need not seek it out; you must only believe.” The master stands from his wooden stool, leaving his own mug of coffee unattended. “Your training will start in the morning. A castle aid will show you to your room, and again to the summit when you rise tomorrow.”

Aqua sits there quietly as Master Eraqus steps away. She does not feel heartened by his words; in fact, it is the exact opposite. There is no way she is meant for this - she is just 11, and she doesn’t even know how she got here. There was some kind of - some kind of light, and she held a blade in her hand for a few moments before this scarred, battle-worn master whisked her away from her empty home.

“The light,” she whispers, as her milk grows cold. She holds out her hand and imagines the blade as she had seen it so briefly - a silver guard, a diamond-shaped hilt on a cobalt blade, and teeth shaped like the jagged ends of a key. Beneath her ragged cloak, she thinks on the master’s words before one of the castle staff approaches her to lead her to her bedroom.

This world is steeped in magic, the aid tells her, as they begin the staggering climb up to the peak of the mountain. The girl leading her can’t be more than seven years old, her hair tied back in a pink bow. She introduces herself as Marlene, and does a polite little curtsy as they reach Aqua’s quarters.

“Is there anyone else here?” Aqua asks the young girl, though she is exhausted and would very much like to sleep. She can’t help it - there’s so much to look at, so much to learn, and Marlene seems more than happy to explain.

“Well, there’s like these magic brooms - I think Master Eraqus borrowed them from somewhere or something - and they do a lot of the cleaning and stuff. I think the stoves work by magic too, but yeah, there’s not a lot of people on this mountain. My daddy works for Master Eraqus, so I stay here and help out.” She runs out of breath towards the end of her spiel and sucks in a massive gasp to fill her lungs again. With a bashful smile, she continues, “My daddy says I talk a lot, but I can’t help it. We never have new people!" 

“It’s alright,” Aqua says, smiling in spite of her exhaustion. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Marlene.”

The room that awaits her is roomy, if somewhat cluttered. Clearly, it hasn’t been inhabited for quite some while, based on the dust on the curtains and the crisply made bed. Aqua takes off her cloak and hangs it on the coat rack near the door, which in itself is unusual - who keeps a coat rack in their room? As she looks around the dimly lit room, she realizes that the other furnishings are equally strange. Besides the basics - a bed, a closet, a bookshelf, a desk - there is an ornately adorned basket on the floor, and an undecorated metal block upon the bedside table. She looks up to the ceiling, where she sees a lamp (which is more of a simplified chandelier), and an assortment of what must be tiny, miniscule lights. 

Frowning, Aqua steps back towards the door and feels around for a light switch. When she turns it on, the chandelier lights up, but the tiny bulbs speckled across the ceiling do not. Aqua flips the lamp back off, as she feels she does not have enough ownership of the room to keep it on. What turned on the little lights? What did they look like? Aqua pokes around the room for a little while longer to see if she can uncover more secrets, but finds no other switch. She does, however, find an old phonograph and a set of accompanying records, as well as several drawers full of clothes meant for a girl her size.

Aqua slips into bed, well aware that there are only a few hours until her first day of training. She closes her eyes, but a light shining next to her bed against the wall catches her attention. Gathered up on her knees, she peers down at it and, hesitantly, reaches out to touch it. It is nothing but a shining ball of light, uncontained and floating there idly. Her fingers are surprised to feel such energy, and as soon as she touches the light, the room lights up. The tiny bulbs spit out stars that whirl around her head until they finally come to rest, and Aqua finds that she recognizes the constellations from her old world.

_This must be magic_ , she thinks, as she crawls underneath the stiff blankets on the bed. She falls asleep with visions of stars dancing across the back of her eyelids.

When Marlene fetches her to the courtyard early the next morning, the sky is a bright baby blue. It seems the sky over the Land of Departure exists in only pastel colors, save for the deep blue of the nighttime. Aqua is entranced by the world’s rustic beauty; this awe, combined with the nervousness of her upcoming training, makes Aqua’s heart flutter in her chest. She is quite light-headed by the time Master Eraqus approaches her, carrying stacks of wood in his arms.

“This will be your first task,” he tells her, as he sets the lumber down. On top of it, he places a hammer, some nails, and several balls of twine. “You are to create a weapon out of this wood by tomorrow morning. You may not leave this spot. Send an aid to me when you’re finished,” he says, and nods at her. “I wish you the best of luck.

Eraqus looks up at the sky and squints at the sun, taking note of its position. He leaves before Aqua can stammer out a question, leaving her in the quiet morning. Marlene sits on the bench nearby, which looks over the peaks surrounding their main mountain. She swings her legs idly and keeps her eyes forward, as though Aqua does not exist.

And, surrounded by beautiful scenery, Aqua falls to the ground with a huff. She looks determinedly at the supplies before her and flexes her fingers. She has never built anything out of wood in her entire life - her father was the handy man, not her. But her father isn’t here, and Eraqus had given her instructions.

Several of the slabs of wood are cut into what are clearly meant to be blades, so she starts there. Some of the wood is corroded or spoiled, so she discards that almost immediately. A flat, smaller piece towards the center of the stack seems more reasonable for a hilt, so Aqua sets that to the side. That is how she sorts her pieces: blades in one pile, good wood in another, and bad wood in the third. 

As the sun climbs in the sky, and as Aqua’s determination runs deeper and deeper, the aids begin to switch out. Marlene switches off with a large, dark man whom the girl greets exuberantly until he shushes her; this man is replaced by a tall young woman with bright blonde hair and glasses. The cycle rotates, apparently on the hour. None of them pay any mind to Aqua, even when she nearly breaks her thumb with the hammer trying to attach the hilt. 

Soon, Aqua is sitting there with a haphazard sword. The blade is shakily attached to the grip, but it stays, and that’s what’s important to Aqua. She sets her new weapon down on the ground and stares at it hard, her brow knit. There had to be a reason Eraqus did it like this. The switching aids, the isolation on top of the mountain, the vague instructions - it all had to mean something. Swords weren’t supposed to be made like this; this weapon could not be used for sparring. 

It hits her suddenly, as Marlene begins to hum quietly. _He never said she couldn’t ask for help._ “Hey, Marlene,” Aqua says, a flutter in her stomach. The girl turns to Aqua and smiles, her legs swinging in rhythm. “Can you take a look at this?”

With the knowing giggle of a girl who knows a secret, Marlene leaps off the bench. She skips on over, her hair dancing behind her. “What’s up, Aqua?” she asks, clasping her hands behind her back.

“So I have this sword.” Aqua holds it up to show her; the blade wobbles as gravity begins to take its hold. “And I don’t know how to make it so I can fight with it. Have any ideas?”

Marlene puts her finger to her chin in what is apparently genuine thought. She glances around the area, pointing at the supplies absently, until her eyes rest on the twine. “Hey, how about that?”

Aqua had completely forgotten about the twine. It had just seemed useless to her at the time, yet Marlene could be onto something. She uses the claw of the hammer to cut off a section of the twine, and wraps it intricately around the base of the blade and the hilt. That seems to do the trick - when Aqua slashes the air with it, the sword stays solid. Marlene claps in glee.

“Thank you very much,” Aqua says earnestly, and ruffles the girl’s hair. She looks around and all the wood that Eraqus had provided her, and kneels down to Marlene’s height. She picks up one of the shorter potential blades. “How about we make you one, too? Then we can spar together.”

Marlene practically squeals at the thought, so they get to work. Two swords means double the splinters, but Aqua enjoys herself. Marlene’s blade has a shorter reach, but it is built more solidly than Aqua’s own weapon. They’ve barely tapped their swords together when Marlene suddenly blurts, “Do you wanna do some magic?”

“O-Of course,” Aqua stammers, letting the tip of her sword touch the ground. “Could you teach me?”

“Yeah!” Marlene clears her throat and raises her sword as though she is a conductor of some important symphony; Aqua can’t help but laugh. Marlene blows bubbles from her hand after closing her eyes for a moment and thinking hard. She grins at her accomplishment and turns to Aqua, who is a little stunned that a girl so young already knows more magic than she.

“It’s easy!” Marlene declares, and gestures for Aqua to raise her sword. “C’mon, try it! Just...think about the bubbles. And how happy they are! Then they’ll show up, you’ll see.”

Aqua’s had enough of these vague instructions, she thinks, but Marlene is young and her time limit on this task isn’t close to expiring, so she does as she says. She thinks hard, concentrating on the tip of her blade, thinking of Marlene’s bubbles and subsequent laughter - and a stream of bubbles erupts from the tip of her wooden sword. 

When the large man comes to relieve Marlene of her watch, the two girls are sparring in field full of bubbles. Laughing, Aqua turns to him and grins, hefting her weapon upon her shoulder.

“Go get Master Eraqus,” she says, “because I think I’m done.”

If Eraqus is startled, he does a fantastic job of hiding it. “The point of the task,” he explains, as he examines her handiwork, “was not to create the best weapon - it was to utilize what you were given. The bubbles are...an interesting touch.” He pops one of the last remaining ones as it floats past him. “Yes, I am glad you realized you could ask for help, I just…I thought you would ask Barret or Quistis. Not Marlene.”

Nonetheless, he places his hand on Aqua’s shoulder and offers her what must be one of his rare smiles. “I am pleased to take you on as my apprentice, Aqua,” he tells her, in a surprisingly warm voice. “Come, let’s eat. It’s nearly time for dinner.”


	2. middle

Aqua is called to the throne room one day, early in the morning. Master Eraqus has been gone for a few weeks, out on an important call of some sort, so Aqua was left to be the head of the castle in his absence. She trained, the aids went about their merry business, and life carried on.

However, that doesn’t mean Aqua isn’t excited to have her master back home. For the past few months, it had been them on their own, learning magic and fighting skills and the intricacies of the ways of the Keyblade. She is smiling as Eraqus ascends the stairs leading up to the throne platform, but he is not alone.

A lanky, awkward boy stands beside him. His hair is brown and messy, just brushing the back of his neck. His spikes remind Aqua of, well, a _porcupine_. He looks over at her and smiles timidly, a gesture that she returns politely. His eyes are dark blue and very focused. Eraqus would like that about him. 

“I would like to introduce you two,” he says finally, once they are closer together. The sun streams in through the stained glass windows, painting the chamber in a cascade of colors. “You both will be training under me.” 

“Hi,” the boy greets awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “My name is - err - I’m Terra.”

After stammering out his name, Terra fidgets with his hands for a few moments before offering one for a shake. Aqua shakes it politely, firmly.

“Hi, I’m Aqua,” she says. Excitement bubbles within her belly - she finally wouldn’t be alone in this massive world.

They eat breakfast first before Terra will be assigned to his first task. He’s not very talkative at first, but once they start chatting (by Aqua’s initiative), he turns out to be an easy conversationalist. She learns that he is a year older than her, putting him at 12 years, and he, too, had summoned a blade to his hand by some unusual event. His home has been lost as well, and Eraqus had been out arranging for his transfer to the Land of Departure. 

Soon, the three of them take off for the summit. Aqua watches as Eraqus hands Terra the wood and explains the task, then leaves the youth on his own.

“Come, Aqua,” he says, without a single glance back at Terra. “You can relax for the rest of the day. Just be sure to show up for dinner.”

Aqua peeks a final look at her newest companion, who sits in front of the stack of wood with his back towards her. She sighs, but nods at her master to confirm that she heeds his instructions.

She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous for Terra - he seemed confident, though he was quiet. Would Eraqus kick Terra off the mountain if he failed? Aqua doubts it, but the nervous pit in her stomach just won’t seem to vanish. She skips lunch altogether and stays in her room, reading her borrowed books and watching her magic stars. (One day, she’ll find out what spell that is and cast it whenever she likes, to see the stars of any other world as she pleases.) 

Dinner finally rolls around; in the last days of summer, the sun is only just setting as they sit down to eat. Aqua sits at her customary place beside Eraqus, who is at the head of the table. They are just about to start eating when the door to the hall opens.

Terra strides in, looking tired and dirty. His hands and arms are riddled with cuts and even a few bruises, but he is carrying a trophy of his efforts - a wooden Keyblade. It looks sturdy, even artistic, which is more than Aqua could say about her own wooden weapon. He sets it at the head of the table opposite Eraqus and rubs at his sore hands.

“You’ve done it,” Eraqus says slowly, without lowering his fork. “How? The wood was not shaped like that before.” 

Almost sheepishly, Terra reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a pocketknife. He flicks out one of the blades to show the master, and uses his thumb to push it back into its slot. “I always have one on me,” he explains, “and carving was a kind of hobby of mine. My dad taught me.”

Eraqus eyes the wooden Keyblade, noting that Terra had carved his name into the guard. “That’s very...resourceful.” He casts a quick glance in Aqua’s direction. “It seems my apprentices are far more creative than I imagined. I gladly welcome you to sit at my table, Terra.”

So Terra pulls up a chair next to Aqua and helps himself to the bowl of potatoes. She doesn’t miss that his hands are shaking, and he has started avoiding eye contact.

“Hey, you did well,” she says, honestly, as he spoons himself a helping of food. “The first test is the worst so far, and he seemed to approve.”

Terra looks up at her, and for the first time she sees a spark in his eye. That seems to have interested him. “You really think so?”

“Yeah, you’re good.”

They are still young, so the days seem to last forever. Summer folds into fall, and winter blows in with a flurry of snow - but the young apprentices adapt. Terra slowly becomes an integral part of her everyday life, alongside her chores and lessons. They throw jokes back and forth as they scrub the kitchen, and they play pranks in the afternoons when they can spare the time. He wakes her up early on her birthday just to give her a present (which is a little mouse he’s carved out of some wood he found lying around - Aqua leaves it on her nightstand to admire night after night). They spar for hours, even in the treacherous weather. This awkward, lanky boy grows into her very best friend, and her only companion on the mountain.

The castle aids return to their own villages beneath the mountains once Eraqus finds that his apprentices are company enough. On the even more sparsely inhabited mountain, in the calm heights at the peak, the apprentices spend weeks trying to summon their blades.

“It is a frustrating process, I admit,” Eraqus tells them, standing in front of the thrones. His apprentices stand there fidgeting, anxious to try. “It will come naturally, but it will take time. You must only be patient.”

Aqua chooses to believe his words, and tries to keep her frustration under control as her weapon refuses to come to her hand. There is still the anxiety that nestles itself deep within her belly, intertwined with her guts - what if she’s not a Keyblade wielder, not really? She dreams at night that there was some kind of mistake, that the Keyblade summoning she had performed back in her old home was a fluke. She vividly imagines Eraqus escorting her down the mountain trail, while Terra watches with contempt in his eyes.

She manages to shove it all down, utilizing the deep, meditating breaths that the Master had taught her. Terra has less ease in keeping his emotions under control. He grows upset easily, and spends hours brooding atop the summit. He spars with heightened aggression, as though he has something to prove. His irritation seeps into every aspect of his character, like a slow-acting poison.

“Terra, _breathe,_ ” she says forcefully one night, as she catches him pacing outside his room. “Didn’t you hear what he said?”

“I did,” he says, glaring at her. “And it’s - it’s _stupid_ , Aqua! We’re here to be warriors, aren’t we? I can’t even summon my weapon!” 

He is so young and scrawny that the effect of his anger is lost on Aqua, though she is his junior in both age and size. She merely frowns. “He said in time,” she says quietly, mostly to herself. “I hope that’s soon.”

“Yeah.” He turns back to his room and folds his arms across his chest, huffing. “We’d better sleep then, I guess. Maybe _that_ will help.”

The next morning, Terra is still disgruntled. Eraqus doesn’t seem to miss this, but focuses his attention on Aqua. He has Terra practice his sword strokes.

“Do you remember what I told you the first night you came here?” he says to her, placing both hands on her shoulder. She’s not yet hit her growth spurt, so he practically towers over her. Her hands completely envelop her thin shoulders. “I meant what I said. The light will protect you, Aqua, and you only need to call on it. Since you are from the Realm of Light, as we all are, your Keyblade is an instrument of it. _Call_ on it. Call the light to your hand.”

Aqua closes her eyes and envisions what she thinks of the light. She thinks of Marlene laughing amidst a sea of bubbles, of Eraqus’ smiling when she had cast her first spell. She thinks of Terra’s mouse, sitting on her bedside table in her room further down the mountain, of the sound of her friend’s laugh. She thinks of the orb of light that shows her the stars of distant worlds.

Warmth rushes down her arm, and suddenly there is a grip in her hand. She snaps her eyes open to see the blade, _her_ Keyblade, held in her outstretched hand. The name comes to her without her prompting.

“Rainfell,” she says, and looks to Eraqus, who is uncharacteristically _grinning._ Terra, across the court, nearly drops his wooden Keyblade in surprise. 

Now that she’s summoned her Keyblade, Eraqus explains, it will be a natural thing, something that can be done with no effort. As an exercise, Aqua dismisses her Keyblade and summons it again, over and over, until she can call Rainfell to her hand with just a feeling. Terra sits cross-legged off to the side, watching the two of them with his fist propping up his head.

The dinner served that night is celebratory, consisting of Aqua’s favorite foods. She indulges, nibbling on a piece of baklava before she even touches the main dish of grilled shrimp. Terra offers her a smile when she looks at him, but for the most part, he just pushes his orzo around on his plate.

Aqua is given express permission to sleep in the next day, but when she awakes, Terra is nowhere in sight. She frets; she had wished to try out her new Keyblade and have a few sparring matches or so. He is in none of their regular places, nor the irregular. 

“Terra is meditating on a higher summit,” Eraqus tells her at last in a tight voice, when Aqua is beside herself with worry, “and he will be down for dinner, don’t worry. He’s safe up there.”

She wants to ask _why_ , but holds her tongue. Eraqus didn’t seem too keen on the subject. She spends the day in the forecourt, practicing spells with her new weapon and a supply of ethers. The magic leaves her fingertips tingling, and though it is exhausting without the aid of recovery items, it makes her immensely _happy._ A few months ago, she was a quiet girl with little to show for herself; now, at twelve years of age, she is one of the rare Keyblade wielders, and can cast spells at that! She watches a Fira spell dither around her, admiring how the heat warps the appearance of the air.

Terra finally shows up that night, but not to dinner. Aqua is in her pajamas when he knocks on her bedroom door with an uncharacteristically soft rap of his knuckles. Smeared with dirt and looking all out of sorts, Terra awkwardly scratches the back of his head. His hair has grown scruffy in the years he’s been here; it is choppy near the back, where he cuts it himself.

“Hey,” he says, and even in the dark, she can tell that he’s blushing. His cheeks burn bright red like bonfires. “I never got to say congrats. O-On your Keyblade, that is.”

She’s not sure what she should say, but she eventually says, “Thanks, Terra,” without fully realizing it.

He nods curtly, and just like the first day he arrived, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. “It’s late, so I should, uhh, head to my room. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

When he departs, walking with his heavy steps back down the hall to his room, Aqua watches him leave. She eventually returns to her bed, confused at this sudden confession from the boy’s mouth. Clearly something had happened to him - yesterday, he had been uptight and irritable. Just now, he seemed truly remorseful and even a little sad. She dwells on it until her dreams whisk her away.

The next morning, Terra is clear-headed and even polite. They run up to the court together, and for once Aqua wins this race. She mounts the steps breathlessly, only to find that Terra is lagging back. “What’s wrong, Terra?” she teases, sticking her tongue out at him. “Giving up already?” 

Panting, he comes to rest on the step just below her. They are about the same height this way, which Aqua finds to be a refreshing change. “Just a little nervous, is all,” he admits. “The Master was, uh...he was really mad at me yesterday.”

Terra steps past her then, before she has a chance to reply. “Terra,” she calls, before he pushes open the doors to the court. “Did you...come see me last night because he told you to?”

He’s already flushed from the climb up the mountain, but his cheeks turn an even brighter shade of red. Terra averts his eyes down to his shoes, which just makes Aqua even _angrier_. Of course he didn’t mean it! Boys are so dumb, they just think they can do whatever they _want_ and it’ll never hurt, and she knew he was jealous, and -

“The Master didn’t know I went to your room,” Terra says quietly. In the sunlight, with his pupils contracted, his eyes look oddly pale. “He told me to go straight to bed. Being ordered to meditation is a bad thing, Aqua.” He looks her up and down, then offers a small smile. He’s starting up the steps to the throne room before she can even move.

Eraqus does seem oddly aloof during their lesson. He rarely addresses Terra directly, and is fairly hands-off for the majority of the time. Aqua is busy casting spells when Terra suddenly gasps.

In his hands is a bronze Keyblade, which looks remarkably like its wooden counterpart. Its reach is long, so it seems to dwarf the young boy. He holds it in both hands to handle its weight; this Keyblade is no doubt much heftier than Rainfell.

“Terra,” Eraqus says, his voice quavering slightly, “you-”

“I’m a Keyblade wielder,” he says beneath his breath, and looks to Aqua rather than his master. She grins and offers him an encouraging thumbs-up, to which he returns a humble nod. With a grunt, he hefts the blade onto his shoulder. Despite its size in comparison to the scrawny, pre-teen Terra, Aqua feels that this is truly a perfect match.

“Earthshaker,” Terra declares, beaming. “Its name is Earthshaker.”


	3. interlude

Terra is on a mission to become as strong as he possibly can, it seems.

He is disheartened when he finds that it is a struggle to hold his Keyblade, the very weapon he was _destined_ to wield. It’s too heavy for him to hold in one hand, though his preferred fighting style is largely one-handed.

“You won’t be sparring with it anyway,” Eraqus tries to tell him, but Terra is having none of that. He refuses to be too _small_ to hold Earthshaker, so he begins to train.

And he trains…and trains…and trains.

The months pass, and he grows stockier. When he’s not studying or sitting through Eraqus’ lessons, he’s bulking up. They’re living on the incredibly lean diet that Eraqus provides for them, but suddenly Terra needs more food just to stay awake and full to compensate for his growing muscles. Combined with a growth spurt at the age of 15, Terra is soon a powerhouse, who does pushups for fun and holds his massive Keyblade in just one hand.

(He grows his hair out, too. His messy porcupine head gets its spikes trimmed, then he just lets it run free for a few months. Aqua herself can’t stand having long hair – it gets in the way – so it doesn’t take long for Terra’s hair to grow longer than hers. She teases him when it begins to resemble Eraqus’ hair, and he just rolls his eyes and gives her shoulder a gentle push.)

Aqua gains a little height, but she is still left behind. He’s almost an entire head taller than her, but she doesn’t let him be the strongest without a little friendly competition. They exercise together – Aqua’s quicker than him on runs, but Terra still destroys her in arm wrestling contests. While Terra’s lanky build becomes mere framework for his young adult self, Aqua grows lean and taut, lithe like a dancer. She is impressed with her own skills; it is no longer exhausting to hold her Keyblade at the ready for more than half an hour, and her endurance increases spectacularly.

Eraqus leans off of them, overall. “You’re teenagers, I understand,” he says in his usual professional tone, despite the fact that Terra is flushed red and Aqua is visibly uncomfortable. “You need time to…do whatever it is you kids do these days. Roam. But do not get killed by the creatures down there; I will not be the one to move your corpses back up the mountain.”

With those kind words, Aqua and Terra indulge themselves. Terra puts together a few more wooden weapons for them to have at their disposal, as it is always handy to be trained in more than one fighting style. He whittles while she stands by the lake, skimming stones over the surface. Aqua bakes, after putting in requests for Eraqus to have something _other_ than his traditional Keyblade Master diet, or whatever it is he has in his pantry. They’ve been on the mountain for four years now, and it is inevitable that their childish craving for sugar would return. She takes her time decorating cupcakes or baking shortbread cookies to perfection; Terra wastes no time in eating them, often before she can even offer some of her treats to Eraqus.

They both, however, spend time in the massive library in the main castle. Together they beat some life into the armchairs that had grown mildewed and dusty over the years they weren’t used, and the library becomes a sort of haven outside of their rooms. Often, they won’t talk for hours while they delve into the storybooks collected from years ago, though Terra’s attention span seems to be less lengthy than Aqua’s. When Eraqus can’t find them anywhere else, he could bet good munny that his apprentices would be in the library.

Terra is, without a doubt, her best friend, though he is not a kindred soul or some other poetic soul mate metaphor. They very clearly have their differences, but they are trapped on a mountain together for the rest of their _lives_ , or at least until they become Masters themselves. They are lucky they don’t fight very often, and Aqua finds herself in awe that they get along so well. Terra isn’t witty – in fact, he’s rather serious – but he jokes around when she jokes around, and they have learned each other’s mannerisms. Terra is no longer afraid to enter her room; he only knocks to announce his presence, then waltzes in like it’s his room, too. He’ll lie on her bed and look at her stars, even when the sun is still out, and they’ll talk about anything.

She’s less inclined to visit his room – it’s down a creaky stairwell, but it’s also a mess. Terra is notorious for being the castle tyrant, as he leaves trails of chaos and sloppiness in his wake wherever he roams. When she visits, she finds herself absently moving his shirts to the closet or brushing crumbs into the trash can, while he looks on amusedly. (The last time she entered his room, though, she caught him doing pushups – _vertical_ pushups. His bangs brushed the ground when he lowered himself, his nose nearly kissing the floor, and her sudden appearance startled him badly enough to send him careening back onto the floor. Since that mishap, she has been happy to avoid his room.)

It is a good situation, Aqua thinks every night, as she looks to the stars in her bedroom. Her body is sore from sparring – her armor is _heavy_ and clunky, and she must learn to block Terra’s hits better. Still, it is a good ache, and her painful muscles reward her for her work with dreamless nights.


	4. end

Ventus has blank eyes.

“There’s something wrong with him,” Terra whispers to her one night, his voice urgent. They’re in the corridor that connects their rooms, and he had stopped her on her way back to her room. “Aqua, memories don’t just _vanish._ There is something that is not right here, not at all.”

A part of Aqua thinks that Terra is just being bitter – he had been reprimanded by the Master for asking Ventus questions and causing the boy to have a breakdown, even though there was no _way_ he could have known that he had problems. Terra spends the next few days walking on eggshells around Master Eraqus, but for the most part their master just seems tired, apathetic.

“We will leave him alone until he wakes again,” is all Eraqus says on the matter, before making the two apprentices run endless laps around the mountain. 

Aqua spends the weeks it takes for the boy to awaken thinking, brooding. She can’t shake Terra’s words. _There’s something wrong with him_ , she repeats to herself, though she does not want to believe it. When Terra is training and Eraqus is up in the court, Aqua visits Ventus’ dorm and silently wishes for him to wake, so she will be able to prove Terra wrong. 

The subject is dropped all together from their everyday conversation. Terra mentions in passing that it’d be nice to have someone else to train with one day, but that is the extent of their mentions of the broken boy. There’s nothing new for Terra to discuss, and he is always frank and open in his discussion. Aqua’s worries are apparently just her own. 

When Ventus _does_ wake, Terra does a complete heel-face turn and is excited beyond belief when Aqua calls him to the boy’s room. He’s grinning, though he’s sweaty and tired from the day’s training.

“We’re glad you’re up, Ventus,” he tells the boy earnestly, as they all crowd into the room while they wait for Eraqus to arrive. Ventus looks up at them through half-closed eyes, and rubs sleepily at one of them. 

“You can call me Ven,” he says, his voice groggy with sleep. “Ventus is so…so _formal._ ”

Many things about Ven’s apprenticeship are unusual. Eraqus skips the make-your-own-weapon lesson and has Ven start off with one of Terra’s wooden swords, though apparently he can already summon his Keyblade.

“Ventus was an apprentice before he came here,” Eraqus tells his older two pupils in private, as Ven works on his sword strokes. “He is younger, though, so I expect you two to help him however you can. Keyblade wielders _help_ others, they don’t hurt them.”

Ven is different, that much is certain. Ven wields his weapons back-handed; Ven is left-handed. Ven fights quickly, with an almost desperate sort of fervor. Ven is reluctant to land blows, and mostly dodges when sparring with Terra. He is very quiet for the first few days after he wakes, though Aqua and Terra try their very best to be friendly.

As time goes by, the elephant in the room seems to be obvious to only Terra and Aqua. Ven comes out of his shell and jokes with them more, spars with them with more enthusiasm. Eraqus won’t even speak of anything but the boy’s present situation, as he considers his past to be just that – the _past._

“Maybe we’re being stupid,” Aqua sighs to Terra one afternoon, when he comes to her room to fiddle with her stars again. “Maybe Master is right, and he’s just another apprentice.”

Terra looks at her curiously, his head tilted. When he doesn’t speak, she continues, “I mean, maybe he’s _not_ a mystery for us to find out. Or if he is, we’re not supposed to know. And Ven’s actually pretty cool.”

“Yeah,” Terra agrees slowly, “he’s rough around the edges, but he’s alright.” Typical Terra – he’s always so blunt. “I thought we’ve been pretty nice, though.”

“Have we?”

He sits up from her bed and frowns. “Okay, maybe we _haven’t._ I can’t help it, Aqua. It’s been so long since I’ve interacted with anyone but you and the Master.”

From that day forward, Terra seems to make an active effort in befriending Ven. So the days blend into months, and the months into years, and life in the Land of Departure becomes regular again. Ven begins to become a part of her life just as Terra did – he is regularly around during their lessons, he does just as many chores as they do, though it doesn’t seem it at times. For a while, they are equals, though there is still that age gap. 

Ven is a quick learner, but he grows _frustrated._ Terra has five years on him, and they are completely different fighters, yet Ven takes it personally that he loses sparring matches and gets knocked down, time and time again. Aqua begins to act as a referee, though she does note that Terra never goes easy on Ven – he is prideful and wouldn’t lose just to spare Ven’s feelings, yet at the same time, Ven _learns._ He becomes less hesitant when it comes to striking his opponent. Still, one afternoon he is tossed to the ground one too many times by his much larger rival, and just lies there groaning.

“What, giving up already?” Terra taunts playfully, hefting his wooden Keyblade onto his shoulder. “C’mon, Ven, I thought you were stronger than that.”

Ven still doesn’t move to get up, placing his palms over his eyes, so Aqua quickly adds, “Ven, you almost had him! Just try again!”

“Hey, wait, you’re teaming up now?” Terra feigns his hurt at her betrayal, and she can only roll her eyes at him. Ven sits up and picks up his sword, shaking his head to clear his senses. He leaps back to his feet and charges at Terra, who is only half-expecting the blow. They go at it until the sun sets, with Aqua spectating from the low wall of the forecourt.

Later, they join her there, once Terra is tired and covered in bruises and insists that it will be detrimental to keep fighting until one of them drops from exhaustion. Terra glances at Aqua, then at the wooden sword in Ven’s hands.

“Ven,” he says, after clearing his throat to get the boy’s attention. “See all those dents and nicks you got?” He gestures to the sword’s ratty appearance.

Aqua catches on and continues, “Each one of those is proof you’re learning.”

“You’re trying too hard to move your body.” Terra picks up his wooden weapon back in his hand and points it at Ven, posing. “You need to let your body move you. Right?”

Aqua thinks this is fine and dandy advice coming from the guy who steps on her feet _every single time_ Eraqus makes them take dancing lessons, but Terra seems to be making a point. He flips the wooden Keyblade over so he’s holding it by the shaft and offers the handle to Ven. “In your hand, take this blade,” he begins, and recites the rest of the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony to their younger friend. Aqua can’t help but snort at him.

“What’s that about? Who went and made _you_ Master?”

“Being a Keyblade master is all I’ve ever dreamed about,” he confesses, and she knows it’s true – he’s told her this many times before. 

“Well, you’re not the only one,” she reminds him. 

He shrugs. “I know.” Carefully, he kneels on the stone tile next to Ven. “You, me, and Ven – we all share the same dream.” He offers the toy weapon to Ven one more time, and finally Ven reaches out to rest his hand upon the wood.

This new apprentice is so much younger than Aqua and Terra that the gaps remain between them all, though they try their best to close them. Ven is a constant, but he adds variety to the lives of his companions. They do not wish to leave him behind; it is simply a natural barrier.

Eraqus has Aqua and Terra run missions up and down the mountain, while Ven is kept up on the summit to practice his magic. Aqua and Terra learn advanced Keyblade traditions, while Ven is still pondering over the basics.

“I’m – I’m happy we’re friends,” he tells them one night, as they crowd in the kitchen. Aqua is stirring a pot of hot chocolate when Ven says this suddenly from his position atop the marble counter. “I mean it. I know you guys are busy becoming Masters and all, but it’s—“ He stops abruptly once he realizes that both of them are looking at him. “It’s stupid, forget it.”

Terra looks at Aqua sideways, his arms crossed comfortably over his chest. She takes the pot off the flame in one swift motion and slides over to where their mugs are laid out on the counter.

“We love you, Ven,” she murmurs, as she pours the beverage into the expectant mugs. “Don’t ever let our training tell you otherwise.”

As Aqua grows older, these revelations come to her with more and more clarity. She does love Ven, just as she loves Terra and Master Eraqus and the stars that dance just for her in her bedroom. She begins to recognize the darkness and all its effects, as her master taught her. Relationships come into a whole different view; Master Eraqus and Terra are close, _so_ close. Eraqus is very protective of Ven, to the point where he shelters the boy. And she knows that Eraqus trusts her immensely, just as she trusts in him.

The last night, beneath the meteor shower, Aqua feels no negative feelings between any of the apprentices. She can sense Terra’s growing anticipation, intense and concentrated like heat rising off of concrete on a scorching summer’s day. Ven is anxious for both of them, but it is a sort of excitement that bubbles just beneath the surface. Aqua herself is nervous, but the prospect of all these years of training finally paying off is simply too exhilarating a thought to keep inside.

She makes these charms she read about, the thalassa shell Wayfinders she had found in an obscure book about an island world somewhere far away, the same worlds Terra sees in the stars. “I made us good luck charms,” she tells them both, these two odd brothers, as she pulls the charms from her pocket. Hers is blue, Terra’s orange, Ven’s green. 

She tells them the story, and tells herself these charms will work. Aqua cannot cast the spell to mobilize these stars, to show them the sky over any given world – but she can give them this small bit of magic, though she did not cast any spell or lose any mana. Nothing can drive them apart if they have these, she insists.

“Oy, you are such a girl sometimes,” Terra groans, and she responds indignantly, placing her hands on her hips.

“What do you mean, ‘sometimes’?” she chides, and he grins at her while Ven looks at his charm in confusion. Oh, it’s such a typical moment – Terra is joking with Aqua, Aqua is tolerating it, and Ven is looking on confoundedly. She would immortalize that moment beneath the meteor shower in the stars if she could.


	5. resolution

Terra cuts his hair by himself after they get back.

Aqua is mounting the steps to the forecourt, and ducks behind a piece of debris when she sees Terra sitting under the arch, cross-legged, unusually slouched. He gathers up his hair (which is finally all brown again, after so many weeks) in one hand and wields a knife in the other. That must be his pocketknife – perhaps it is the same blade that he carved his wooden weapon with so many years ago. Terra leans his head forward and braces the edge of the blade with his thumb. With a few forceful tugs, he cuts through the hair near the base of his skull.

Strands drift away in the distance. Terra looks at the hair in his hand and tilts his head downward, so she can’t see his face at all anymore. “Aqua, you’ve never been very sneaky,” he says quietly, but his voice carries to her on the wind.

“It was worth a shot,” she sighs, and ascends the rest of the steps. She sits next to him beneath the arch, and eyes the hair clenched in his fist. There are still a few silver strands there that catch her eye, and she quickly diverts her gaze. The sun is setting; that’s a much prettier sight.

“I was tired of it,” he says suddenly. He opens his hand over the cliff, and the hair falls rather ungracefully down the slope, stuck together in a clump. Terra wipes his hand on his pants and looks over at her, his eyes their usual stormy blue. (Every time she looks at him, though, she half-expects to see golden eyes, amber eyes, any shade of eye color but his own. He was all mismatched after she first found him – along with hair that was streaked silver, one eye was yellow while the other was blue. It was as though he was only half of himself.) “Ansem’s apprentice Xehanort grew his hair out, so his Heartless and his Nobody had long hair, too. I’m not – I don’t want to look like them at all." 

Aqua doesn’t reply immediately. Terra’s voice wavers as he speaks, and that seems to embarrass him; he looks off into the distance and sighs. Gently, she reaches out and turns his face back towards her. She runs one hand through his bangs, the lengthy spikes on the top of his head.

“I can even these out,” she says lightly. “They’re all the wrong length now. If we can find some scissors, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Her own hair had grown much, much longer during her stay in the Realm of Darkness, but Aqua didn’t mind. She had the heaviest parts tied back, away from her face, and the rest curled messily over her shoulders and down her back. Unlike Terra, however, her hair was a symbol of her trials and struggles, not of being overwhelmed and controlled. They lean against each other and watch the setting sun.

It is nearly dark when Ven climbs up the steps, panting. Ten years of being dormant had left him gaunt and scrawny – his body had grown, but he had lost muscle mass, as well. Wearing some of Terra’s too large hand-me-downs, Ven leans against the same debris behind which Aqua had hidden and groans. “You guys didn’t _tell_ me you’d be up here,” he complains, as he wanders up to the arch. He sits on the ledge next to Terra, swinging his legs over the stone. “I’m so out of shape, it’s not even funny – warn me next time, so I can prepare myself.”

“I’ll make note of it,” Terra grunts, looking at their friend through the corner of his eyes. “Ven is too lazy to climb up a few stairs – I must only stay on ground-level areas now.”

Ven scowls indignantly; Aqua covers her mouth to hide her laugh. “I haven’t had a chance to stretch my legs in years. Literally, years! Not _all_ of us can do vertical push-ups, Terra,” he fires back, but neither of them are willing to pursue this argument much further.

They lapse into a comfortable silence. Long ago, Ven used to hate silences, and would fill them any way possible, but now it seems he, too, has grown to savor the quiet. Aqua watches the stars above her home and feels the familiar swoop in her stomach that the sight of the night sky causes.

There is much about the universe that they still have to do – there are Heartless to fight and apprentices to train and peace to maintain – but for now they can stay still, after a decade of fighting for their lives. On this mountain above the world, Aqua can truly say she feels _safe_ , as a wise man once tried to tell her years and years ago.


End file.
